


Stem Cells and Synthesis

by aron_kristina



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alien Biology, Doppelganger, Eleventh Doctor Era, Episode Tag, Episode: s06e06 The Almost People, Gen, Living Flesh, Rebuilding people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-29
Updated: 2011-05-29
Packaged: 2017-10-19 21:58:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/205650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aron_kristina/pseuds/aron_kristina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a rock in the ocean sits an eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stem Cells and Synthesis

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers in here, people!
> 
> Thanks, as ever, to C, for the beta, even though she hasn't seen the episodes. Comments and concrit welcome.

The acid kept coming for days. The monastery was destroyed, as was all the equipment left in there. In the end, when it all calmed down, all that remained of the island was a small, rocky bit sticking out of the water. On that rock sat an eye.

The eye looked out over the sea. It hadn’t found anything to eat yet, but it somehow had the feeling that seaweed could be eaten. Contained iron. And potassium. Did it contain potassium? It wasn’t sure. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. What it did know, in the way all living things know, was that it needed nutrition. So seaweed it was. It managed to soak up some water, and in that water were tiny bits of algae, and with the help of the algae it built itself a mouth, so it could eat seaweed. It wasn’t a very good food digestion system, all things told, most of the seaweed had to be spat back out again, but it ensured the eye wouldn’t die, and that was good. It even gave the eye a tiny bit of extra energy, and that energy was put into growing an arm.

Time passed. The eye didn’t really have a sense of it, except it got dark and light at somewhat regular intervals. Or so it thought. It now had an arm-like appendage to grip seaweed with, and it could now eat even more. It started to grow a large bulb under the eye, stomach, it was called stomach. The eye sometimes wondered how it could be conscious, since it didn’t seem to have a brain, but that didn’t really matter. All that mattered was getting a proper stomach so it could use more of the nutrition in the seaweed and the ocean. Growing was such a very energy spending activity.

Soon it was more like a sack of flesh, filled with stomach and bowels, and a blood circulatory system. It had started to need one of those, quite a miscalculation, actually, not to make one earlier, but what was done was done. The second arm had started to grow, in order for it to eat even more. It had managed to eat a fish, and that had proved to be very nutritious, so it tried to catch more of them.

Growing, all things told, was rather boring. It was getting to the point of being finished enough that boredom could set in. Sure, it wasn’t all done yet, brain not formed beyond the basics, but it was still boring.

It sat on the rock, trying to catch some fish, when it saw a glimmer of something in the water. A piece of something recognizable. Was it something to be eaten? It thought not, but it caught it anyway. The thing needed food, so when it caught a fish it gave some to the thing. It had to chew it first, break it down enough so the thing could absorb the nutrients through its membrane, but it did. The thing was just a blob, really, but the thing was company, and it was happy.

It slept. It had developed a sense of time, and the dark times were the times for sleep. It didn’t think it would need so much sleep when it had stopped growing, but for now it did.

It looked at the thing. The thing now had an eye. It tried to speak to the thing.

“Eye,” it said. “Eye.” It pointed at the thing. “Eye.”

“It,” it said, and pointed at itself.

“Eye,” it said, and pointed at Eye.

It felt satisfied with this, and spent the rest of the day hunting for food.

Many days later, Eye had grown into a sack of flesh, but no arms. It caught the food, so Eye didn’t need to have arms. Not yet. It had started talking, now that it had someone to talk to. It wanted Eye to have vocal chords, so Eye could talk back, but Eye only wanted to eat and grow. It would wait. It had time.

*

“I think,” it said. “I think? Eye think? But Eye is you. I am I. You are Eye. Who is thinking?”

Eye looked at him and burped. Eye had finally grown arms, when Eye had grown tired of waiting for it to feed Eye. Eye still couldn’t talk, so it had to talk instead. Its brain was developing, slowly, and it was thinking of maybe having legs. Then they could go somewhere else.

“I should have a name,” it said. “What is my name?” It thought. “I think my name is The. I seem to remember this. Do you remember this?”

Eye just looked at it. The thought Eye should be growing vocal cords soon, because Eye had a brain, even if it wasn’t as good as The’s brain. The seemed to remember that The’s brain was better than everyone else’s.  
“You know, if we have legs we can go somewhere else,” The said. “Just a thought.”

*

The had grown out some legs when Eye finally started to talk. Eye had two eyes now, but The thought it was a good name, Eye, so The kept it. Eye wasn’t talking then anyway.

“You,” Eye said, and The, who was in the water looking for food, looked up.

“You’re talking now!” The said. “Brilliant!”

“I remember,” Eye said.

“Yes, me too,” The said. “Just not everything. I think we will remember everything when we are fully grown. I think I remember that.”

“Mmm,” Eye said, more interested in looking for food.

“Not much of a conversationalist,” The said, revelling in the fact that The could remember longer and longer words.

*

“I think I shall stop growing now,” The said. “I just need my brain to be a bit bigger.”

“You have a huge head,” Eye said.

“Thank you!” The said. “I remember something about your brain. Wait a minute.”

The thought. Memories were coming quicker than they had, but The still didn’t remember the things The wanted to remember.

“Don’t make your brain explode,” The said. It wasn’t quite what The had thought to say, but it was close enough.

“I will try,” Eye said. The smiled.

*

Eye had almost finished Eye’s legs when a boat came by. The knew it was a boat, but it didn’t know what a boat was.

The boat picked them up. The was apparently good at making things up, so The said they were shipwrecked, and that Eye had hurt Eye’s legs. The sailors on the boat looked at them strangely, but dropped them off at land.

The built a hut out of things The found at the beach, and The and Eye slept in the hut. It was nice. They had a fire, so The cooked things. The hadn’t known that The could cook, so that had come as a nice surprise. Eye mostly ate, but maybe a bit slower these days. The still couldn’t remember that thing about Eye’s brain, but The hoped it wasn’t that important.

*

One morning, because it was called morning, that time when the sun, it was called sun, rose, The woke up and remembered. He had to stay lying down, because it was a lot of things to remember, a long life and a lot of feelings. But after ten minutes he felt ready to get up, so he did. Eye, Miranda, still slept, so he sneaked out and checked the fish nets. There was fish, and he cooked breakfast. Good food, fish, full of nutrients, and Miranda should be up and going in no time. He remembered that thing with her brain, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to worry her when he didn’t have to. He even kept calling her Eye.

*

One morning the Doctor woke up, and saw Miranda sitting in the doorway to their little hut. She turned around when she heard him move.

“Hello,” she said, and held out her hand. “I’m Miranda.”

“Hello, Miranda,” he said. “I’m the Doctor.”


End file.
